Cellphones, iPods Fill School’s Computer Void
Cellphones and iPods are usually no-nos in classrooms. But students at the John Mall High School in Walsenburg, Colo., are — with the blessing of the local school district — being encouraged to use theirs, according to KKTV.com. There is, of course, a caveat: only when they’re needed as education tools and only with teacher supervision. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the experiment is an attempt to get around a big problem at the school: a technology deficit. There is a shortage of working classroom computers at John Mall. But smartphones can connect to the Internet, too, right? So why not put them to use? For instance, as science teacher Deb Striegel taught a geography lesson, one student used his cellphone to pull up pictures of the rocks that were the subject of the lesson. As Striegel told the Colorado Springs TV station, students know how to use the gadgets for fun, but now they’re seeing how they can be used as learning tools, as well.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
